ARCHIVED - National Energy Board - 2015-16 - Report on Plans and Priorities - Section II: Analysis of Program(s) by Strategic Outcome

Section II: Analysis of Program(s) by Strategic Outcome

Strategic Outcome

The regulation of pipelines, power lines, energy development and energy trade contributes to the safety of Canadians, the protection of the environment and efficient energy infrastructure and markets, while respecting the rights and interests of those affected by NEB decisions and recommendations.

Program 1.1: Energy Regulation

Description:

This program provides the regulatory framework under which the NEB carries out its mandate and achieves part of its strategic outcome. Specifically, it enables Canadian federally regulated energy infrastructure to be developed and supervised throughout its lifecycle. The regulatory framework includes components such as setting expectations for industry and others, monitoring and enforcing compliance with requirements, measuring performance of the NEB’s regulatory framework and focusing on continual improvement. The authority for this program is derived from the NEB Act, COGOA, CPRA, the Canada Labour Code and other associated regulations and guidelines. Energy regulation provides Canadians with safe, reliable and efficient energy supply.

Planning Highlights

The NEB is focused on developing, refining and communicating its actions on safety and environmental protection.

The major initiatives include:

• Develop and implement an enhanced external Safety Culture framework and collaborate with other regulatory agencies on this initiative
• Plan and hold technical sessions to publicly discuss safety
• Improve quality of regulatory data
• Use enhanced data analysis to inform improvement of safety and environmental protection programs

These activities, once implemented, will further minimize the risk that an incident at a regulated company could result in a serious injury, fatality(ies) or significant environmental damage.

Sub-program 1.1.1: Energy Regulation Development

Description:

This sub-program provides the energy sector and affected stakeholders with the regulatory expectations required for the development and operation of energy infrastructure and for oil and gas exploration and development activities in lands and offshore areas as defined in s.3 of COGOA. The NEB develops and communicates regulations, guidance materials and related processes to ensure its regulatory expectations are clear and useful. The NEB actively seeks opportunities for improvement through amendments to regulations and guidance, non-mandatory goals and guidance, and other direction provided from time to time.

Planning Highlights

Changes to the NEB Act, other applicable federal legislation and consequential regulations must be implemented. These changes in regulations are either required by legislation or are identified gaps and issues in the NEB regulatory framework. The NEB continually improves its regulatory framework to provide staff and stakeholders with updated, accurate and relevant regulatory guidance.

Key activities include:

• Implementing legislative and consequential regulatory changes. Considerable work is occurring to prepare for regulatory changes that would be required to implement Bill C-22 and C-46, including cost recovery regulations, administrative monetary penalties, abandonment, financial assurances as well as amendments to damage prevention regulations under the NEB Act
• Modernizing the regulatory framework related to the Board’s regulatory responsibilities for oil and gas exploration and production under COGOA and CPRA, in partnership with relevant federal, provincial, and territorial government departments and regulators
• Ongoing improvement of the NEB’s existing regulatory framework

Sub-program 1.1.2: Energy Regulation Implementation, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement

Description:

Through this sub-program, the NEB makes informed decisions and recommendations on issues and applications related to energy development, energy infrastructure, energy transportation, energy trade and related activities. As an independent regulatory tribunal, the NEB actively involves those affected by its regulatory decisions through public hearings and other engagement activities.

The Board verifies and enforces compliance with regulatory requirements and expectations such as those set out in the Board regulations, and terms and conditions of approvals. The NEB conducts its monitoring and enforcement activities under eight regulatory implementation programs: integrity, emergency management, safety management, damage prevention, financial regulation, respecting rights and interests, security, and environmental protection. Through monitoring and enforcement, the NEB holds regulated entities accountable for results in the Canadian public interest. The public interest is inclusive of all Canadians and refers to a balance of economic, environmental and social considerations that changes as society’s values and preferences evolve over time. This program uses funding from the following transfer payment: National Energy Board Participant Funding Program.

Planning Highlights

The NEB’s regulatory and non-regulatory activities (e.g., application assessment, compliance and enforcement, planning and reporting, etc.) are risk-informed and driven by timely analysis of data and information collected from different activities. Analysis of accurate and relevant information can lead to the identification of trends in the industry and informs the NEB application assessment, compliance verification and enforcement processes. Through these efforts, the NEB will continue to hold regulated companies accountable for results in the Canadian public interest.

In addition to work on building a stronger safety culture throughout the regulated industry, the NEB will:

• Deliver on the compliance activity plan, including inspections and audits
• Build process efficiencies and capacity to provide oversight for potential large-scale construction projects
• Conduct additional analysis of incident data to identify trends and root causes
• Incorporate information from new leading performance indicators into compliance planning and program improvements
• Design and implement enhanced investigative processes in support of the NEB’s enforcement program
• Continue to manage time-limit commitments on application assessments
• Utilize input from Canadians (e.g., Land Matters Group) to inform NEB initiatives
• Communicate to the public safety and enforcement actions
• Implement process improvements from recommendations of the Office of the Auditor General audit on the implementation of Canadian Environment Assessment Act, 2012

These activities, once implemented, will support the organizational priority to reach out to Canadians and will further minimize the risk of an incident at a regulated company resulting in a serious injury, fatality(ies) or significant environmental damage.

Program 1.2: Energy Information

Description:

Under this program, the supply, demand, production, development, transmission and trade of energy are analyzed to ensure the requirements of Canadians are appropriately met. Advice is provided on energy issues of interest. The Board uses energy information to inform its regulatory decisions and to produce publicly available assessments of energy trends, events and issues that may affect Canadian energy markets and the supply and demand for energy.

Planning Highlights

In support of the Program, the NEB will continue to monitor developments in energy markets, gather and publish energy market statistics and publish analyses to inform Canadians on energy markets. The NEB monitors a variety of data and information under the Energy Information Program, which are made available to the public through our market and our supply and demand analysis products.

Key activities include:

• Continue to monitor developments in energy markets, gather and publish energy market statistics and publish analyses to inform Canadians on energy markets
• Support the Board’s regulatory decisions by providing up to date market analysis on energy infrastructure related applications before the Board
• Publish energy studies - planned publications for 2015-16 include:
  • Canada’s Energy Future 2015 to be released in Fall 2015
  • Liard Basin and Cordova Embayment Resource Assessments
  • Short-term Canadian Natural Gas Deliverability Outlook 2016-18
  • Short-term Canadian Conventional/Tight Oil Deliverability Outlook 2016-18
  • Several shorter reports on various aspects of energy markets, including Canadian Energy Overview and Canadian Energy Dynamics
• NEB will leverage the Government of Canada Web Renewal and Open Data initiatives to improve Canadians’ access to energy information

These activities enable the Board to make informed decisions and demonstrate to Canadians how markets are functioning and whether there are sufficient energy resources to satisfy Canadian needs even with exports. These activities, once implemented, will minimize the risk that inaccurate, incomplete or inadequate information about NEB-regulated facilities or NEB operations is communicated to Canadians.

Internal Services

Description:

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. Internal services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization, and not those provided to a specific program. The groups of activities are Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Materiel Services; and Acquisition Services.

Planning Highlights

To be an effective and efficient organization supporting regulatory excellence based on a culture of innovation and creativity, the NEB will improve internal systems and processes, and embrace whole-of-government initiatives to increase efficiency and effectiveness, foster a culture of innovation, learning and continual improvement, and manage resources effectively and efficiently.

The NEB continues to experience an increase in workload due to the number of compliance activities and the complexity of applications in parallel with organizational changes, including the expansion of the NEB through a regional presence. This could result in additional funding requirements and in alternative ways of doing business.

The following key activities support all of our organizational priorities in addition to our core work as defined by our Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture:

• Establish tools, processes and systems to meet enhanced internal needs for regulatory reporting, analysis and measurement
• Align NEB’s Enterprise Resource Planning processes and systems with Government of Canada-wide standards established by Treasury Board (e.g. Phoenix pay system, My GC HR, PeopleSoft, SAP)
• Support Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government
• Modernize NEB’s record keeping practices and systems
• Strengthen physical security for staff and guests at Centre 10
• Address recommendations stemming from the horizontal audit on Information Technology security
• Explore alternative business models (e.g. cost recovery) which would enable the NEB to be more responsive to rapidly changing demands for regulatory service and information
• Carry out collective bargaining
• Renewal of the job classification system
• Review NEB’s programs and performance measures to better align with mandate and services provided to Canadians

Some of these activities, once implemented, will help to minimize the threat of a security incident at Centre 10 as well as improve the integrity of IM/IT systems and practices.

Additional details on the NEB’s green procurement activities can be found in the Sustainable Development Strategy supplementary table.

Date modified:

2021-01-18